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Bowers looking to ‘root out corruption’ with Sawant ethics complaint

Seattle City Council candidate Logan Bowers filed an ethics complaint against District 3 incumbent Kshama Sawant earlier this week, later speaking with KTTH’s Jason Rantz to talk through his reasoning.

The complaint alleges that Sawant appropriated city funds and resources for use by Socialist Alternative, a political party she claims to be among the leadership for. For Bowers, it’s both an issue of transparency, and quashing corruption in our city government.

“I think we can all agree that we want government that works for us, we want it to be transparent, and I think we need to root out corruption regardless of ideology,” he told Rantz.

This all stems from an early-January report from SCC Insight, that laid out a host of evidence alleging that Councilmember Sawant “has handed over significant decision-making to (Socialist Alternative) — including how she votes on business that comes before the City Council, and the hiring and firing of government-payroll staff in her office.”

Bowers’ complaint covers a pair of aspects of that report: First, that Sawant allegedly had city-paid staff working in the interest of Socialist Alternative, and second, that she hides her activities from public records requests by using a private email account.

“I think honesty and transparency in government are critical, and I don’t think it should be tolerated at any level regardless of whether or not the individual happens to hold views that we like,” Bowers noted.

Bowers is currently one of four candidates in District 3 running against Sawant in this year’s election, and has already raised over $21,000 in campaign donations. In terms of what it is that makes him qualified to unseat Sawant, he’s of the mind that she doesn’t represent the district’s best interests.

“I don’t think she accurately or faithfully represents the district,” said Bowers. “I think there’s a difference between coincidentally advancing issues people care about and actually working in the interest of the people.”

Bowers’ complaint will next be reviewed by the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission, a committee comprised of seven citizen volunteers. It was also filed with Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson.